Computer and Technology

Apple iMac G5 (iSight)

2005-11-07T20:34:00.000+07:00

The first two versions of the Apple iMac G5 were wonders of design and engineering, and the newest version continues on that same path. The newest 20-inch iMac G5 ($1,699 direct) adds a few features, including upgraded graphics and a slightly faster processor, while cutting the price by $100. On the whole, the iMac G5 (iSight) is an evolution of the design we first saw a year ago, and we consider it an improvement. The iMac G5 is a great desktop for Mac users whose needs go beyond simple Web browsing and e-mailing.

The iMac G5's appearance hasn't changed much from the previous version: Sharp-eyed users will notice the now-curved back panel, which makes the iMac seem more organic and less bricklike than the previous version. The power button has been moved from the back right to the back left, no doubt to prevent people from accidentally turning the iMac off when plugging in a cable. Speaking of cables, the USB, FireWire, and VGA/video adapter ports now run horizontally instead of vertically. And with the multibutton Apple Mighty Mouse now standard, the people switching from Microsoft Windows will finally be able to right-click and scroll with an Apple mouse.

The integrated iSight camera—the main focus of the new iMac upgrade—provides iChat A/V video-conferencing capabilities as well as the usual picture and video webcam duties. A neat novelty program called Photo Booth lets the user select filters for self-portraits, giving your iChat/AIM buddy pictures visual qualities such as sepia toning, "X-ray" coloring, and other effects. In theory, this could turn people into avid webcam users, though in practice, most adult users are likely to take their picture once when they first get their iMac, then forget it's there.

The Apple Remote with Front Row interface is another story. The remote gives the iMac features very similar to those of a Media Center, albeit without the TV tuner. Front Row is a simple yet powerful control panel with the same sort of "10-foot interface" found in Windows Media Center Edition. You can see song titles and the like from across the room, from the comfort of your bed or couch. The included infrared Remote looks like a shrunken, thinner iPod shuffle, with the same five-way control pads for volume, track forward/back, and play/pause, as well as a menu control button.

Using the remote and the Front Row software lets the user control iPhoto (slide shows), iTunes (music), Videos (downloads and Video podcasts), and DVD movies from the comfort of an easy chair. Once set up, the combination works well, with the "no-look" interface you're used to if you have an iPod. This is a big improvement on most MCE remotes (or even consumer electronic remotes like the one for your cable box), where you have to look at the remote constantly to see if you're hitting the right button. The Apple Remote also works with the new iPod Universal dock ($39), which has IR built in to control a docked iPod, iPod mini, or iPod nano.

Doom 3 performance is still fairly anemic, at 20 frames per second, though this is an improvement over the previous iMac G5, a 2.0-GHz machine that came with Radeon 9600 graphics and got a score of 14 fps at the same 1,024-by-768 resolution. We're sure the improvement is due to the upgraded graphics (X600 XT) and the new PCIe-based motherboard. But Doom 3 performance still lags behind that of mainstream Windows PCs with discrete graphics.

The iMac G5 with built-in iSight is a very good reworking of an excellent product, with additions that enhance the all-in-one nature of the iMac. It's a great mainstream Mac desktop for people whose computing needs extend beyond simple Web browsing and e-mail.

Archos AV700

2005-11-04T07:29:00.000+07:00

The Archos AV700 digital video recorder isn't meant to be small. It's meant to provide comfortable viewing on long trips, so it's a biggest-of-breed device with a 7-inch widescreen LCD and either a 40GB or 100GB hard drive. Although not particularly cheap, the AV700 is impressive. Taking advantage of the extensive feature set requires a bit of tech savvy, though, and the complexity—combined with the $799.95 (direct) price for the 100GB model and $599.95 for the 40GB—may scare some people away. But early adopters and gadget freaks with deep pockets will love this attractive, versatile product.
At 4.2 by 8.2 by 0.8 inches and a hefty 20.8 ounces, it certainly feels sturdy. Yet despite its size, the rounded-corner DVR manages to be fairly sleek and comfortable to hold. You can also set it on a table and flip out the kickstand to watch video on the bright LCD. The removable rechargeable battery is rated for 30 hours of continuous audio playback or 4 hours of video. To extending play time, you can buy a spare battery from Archos for $49.95.

In our real-world tests, we got 3 hours 47 minutes of video using the built-in LCD and just under 28 hours of audio on a charge. Your results will vary based on the bit rates of your encoded media files. Note that the AV700 doesn't charge via USB, so you may want to plug it into the power adapter if you're transferring lots of large files.

The analog controls on the AV700 are somewhat less confusing (for U.S. users) than those of other Archos products. Most are self-explanatory, including four cursor buttons on the left and play/pause and stop on the right. A couple of other sets, however, are unlabeled: Two buttons near the four cursor controls let you page up and down in your media collection; buttons on the lower right of the screen are for contextual menus. A button on top of the device toggles video output between the LCD and a TV monitor.

The menu structure is admirably easy to navigate. All the primary functions are clearly presented on the main screen with large icons and very readable text. You can access settings via the contextual menus—and for people who love lots of options, the AV700 delivers big-time, letting you adjust everything from the LCD refresh rate and menu color scheme to the power-management profiles for battery and DC operation. Best of all, settings menus are easy to read and understand, and most are limited to a single screen. You can even use the handy virtual keyboard in the contextual menus for renaming files and folders.

The AV700 supports the Microsoft PlaysForSure initiative for downloaded and rented audio and video content. A USB On-The-Go port (in addition to a standard USB 2.0 port), lets you connect to any Mass-Storage-Class device—a digital camera, for example—and do bidirectional file transfers. The AV700 itself is a mass-storage-class device, so it works with both Macs and PCs. The preloaded Mophun gaming engine lets you download Mophun games. Unfortunately, calendar and contact features are exclusive to the Archos PMA series for now, so you won't see them on the AV700.

Audio playback formats include MP3 (at up to 320 Kbps), WMA, protected WMA, and WAV. You can listen via the built-in stereo speakers or the included earbuds, but we're sure those who can afford this device will upgrade the headphones to something like the inexpensive Sennheiser MX400 earbuds at the very least, and preferably to a set with noise isolation or canceling. Line-in audio recording is in WAV (PCM or ADPCM) at sample rates up to a very impressive 48 kHz. You can also create and edit playlists and set bookmarks in songs.

The AV700 records video in MPEG-4 SP AVI format at up to 2,500 Kbps. Just hook the included TV docking pod to the AV700, plug the pod into the wall, and connect any analog video source to the A/V input on the dock using the included cables. (The dock also supports S-Video and composite output.) You can adjust nearly anything, including resolution, bit rate, aspect ratio (four different choices!), and sample rate. There's even an infrared emitter cable that lets you control your VCR or set-top box via the AV700's included wireless remote. The cable also lets the AV700 control other devices for scheduled recordings while you're away.

We recorded some TV shows at various bit rates and watched them on the built-in LCD and a large TV monitor. Video captured at 500 Kbps was nearly unwatchable. Material recorded at 1,500 Kbps looked okay, though we could see compression artifacts. At 2,500 Kbps we got very good results, though we could still discern compression effects.. Audio was properly synchronized in all of our testing, and we were able to edit out commercials directly on the device thanks to some basic cropping tools. Recorded files are limited to 2GB each, but the AV700 will simply close the first file and start a new one if you go over the limit.

Video recorded from your TV directly onto the AV700 will play back on any TV via the A/V cables (just make sure to press the LCD toggle button on the top of the player). One caveat, however: Because the player recognizes Macrovision copy protection, such as that found on Hollywood DVDs, any such content you record on the AV700 will play back only on the built-in screen, since the DRM disables the TV output.

Video playback supports AVI files up to 720-by-480 at 30 frames per second. Handy options include variable-speed playback, repeat and shuffle modes, and bookmarking. On both the built-in LCD and our TV monitor, the videos we loaded onto the AV700 look very good (arm's–length viewing is best for the LCD). We were also able to load TV shows recorded using a Media Center PC, though only via Windows Media Player and only after WMP automatically converted the files. Some recorded shows didn't play back smoothly on the AV700, but the same files looked fine in WMP.

Creative Zen Vision

2005-11-02T01:26:00.000+07:00

The Creative Zen Vision occupies its own niche in the portable media player (PMP) market. Unlike the Archos AV and PMA series, it doesn't record video, and it's not as small as the fifth-generation iPod, but its gorgeous 3.7-inch screen provides a very comfortable photo- and video-viewing experience, despite some viewing-angle issues.

Overall, we like the Vision, but we do have a wish list for improvements, like the addition of line-in recording and the ability to make video playlists. And all four units we tested had a problem with background noise in some audio playback. Creative is aware of the issue and is working on a firmware upgrade.

At 4.9 by 2.9 by 0.8 inches and 8.4 ounces, the Vision is smaller and lighter than Creative's initial offering, the Creative Zen Portable Media Center. The 8.4-ounce Vision is sleek, with an anodized magnesium shell and measures 4.9 by 2.9 by 0.8 inches. Thankfully, the surface of the sleek magnesium shell doesn't pick up fingerprints like its predecessor did. The device comes in black or white and has a 30GB hard drive.

Controls are well-laid-out on the right side of the screen, with volume buttons on the top of the device next to the power/hold switch and built-in microphone. The USB 2.0 port and dock connector (for the optional docking cradle) are on the bottom, and the CompactFlash card slot is on the left side. The headphone jack is on the right side (which makes sense considering the Vision's overall shape), and A/V output and power jacks covered by a rubber flap lie next to it.

Although the manual says setup requires installing the Vision drivers and Creative's music transfer manager, we had no trouble simply plugging the device into our PC's USB port and syncing with Windows Media Player 10. The standard USB 2.0 High Speed connection, which replaces the Creative Zen Portable Media Center's proprietary connector, makes transfers speedy.

We loaded the Vision with video, photos, and music. You can also sync your contacts, tasks, and calendars with Microsoft Outlook and Creative's included PIM software. But although you can put the Vision into hard-drive mode to transfer music and data via drag-and-drop, you can't load photos, video, or anything else without Windows Media Player or Creative's software. Also, there's no Mac support.

The interface has been streamlined a bit and surpasses that of many other such devices, with clear, intuitive menus and controls. You can browse music by ID3 tag and photos and video by filename. A pane on the right of the interface lets you jump to specific letters—but just for video and audio, not photos, which are browsable by folder and thumbnail only. The main menu is customizable, which we found very handy for quicker navigation.

Audio format support includes MP3, WAV, and WMA as well as WMA files protected with WM DRM 10, such as those from online music and video subscription, rental, and download services. Subjective audio quality using the default settings has some problems. Despite deep bass and crisp highs, on some tracks, as mentioned earlier, we could clearly hear a background noise that sounds like what you get when you compress music too much. Creative claims the noise is audible on classical music only, but we heard it on jazz, folk, solo piano, and any music with quiet parts.

The included earbuds are actually quite good, and more efficient than most. The built-in mono speaker, however, is nearly useless because of its surprisingly low output. Our formal tests with the included earbuds showed a flat frequency response down into the mid-bass, with an admirably slow rolloff below that. We noted plenty of distortion at maximum volume, but the player puts out a fairly clean signal up to 23 on the 25-step volume scale. Output power via the headphone jack is quite strong: We measured a sustained 104 dB and 110 dB peaks with the included earbuds on our rock test track.

We checked out some of the equalizer settings, but none added anything to the sound quality. The Rock preset results in significant distortion even at normal listening volume, though Jazz doesn't distort even at maximum volume. The custom 5-band EQ gives you 12 dB in either direction, but in our tests, raising any of the sliders more than half way caused distortion.

eVGA e-GeForce 7800GT

2005-11-02T01:04:00.000+07:00

The eVGA e-GeForce 7800GT ($390 street) distinguishes itself from the standard nVidia GeForce 7800GT reference design with a striking black graphic on the heat sink and higher clock rates for both core and memory. The 445-MHz core rate is about 11 percent faster than the 400-MHz default, and the 533-MHz (1,070-MHz DDR) memory rate is about 6 percent faster. Despite the overclocking, though, we saw no stability issues during testing, and core temperatures seemed in line with similar products.

There are two boxed versions of the e-GeForce 7800GT: one bundled with Battlefield 2, EA's highly regarded online shooter game, and one without. The $30 price difference is lower than the cost of the game, so if you want but don't already own Battlefield 2, buying the bundle is the better deal. Also included is a video-output dongle that supports component video output, a necessity for connecting to HDTVs.

Juicing up the clock rates resulted in excellent benchmark-test numbers for the e-GeForce 7800GT. On our tests (run on an AMD Athlon 64 FX-55-based system) the card ran noticeably faster than the Chaintech Apogee AE78GT, which is a stock reference design. Even when we turned on anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering at 1,600-by-1,200, all the games except Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory achieved playable frame rates. Splinter Cell is a somewhat slower-paced game, so the sub-40 fps rate at high resolution and anti-aliasing settings may be acceptable to many players—but not to hard-core gamers.

With the card, you get a lifetime warranty and round-the-clock online and telephone support. If you're willing to shell out roughly $390, the combination of performance, superb warranty, and access to support at all hours makes the eVGA e-GeForce 7800GT a compelling product, and worthy of our Editors' Choice.

Nokia 9500 Communicator

2005-10-30T11:49:00.000+07:00

The most apt analogy for the Nokia 9500 Communicator is a luxury SUV with a four-cylinder engine—big, comfortable, slow, and expensive. While the screen, office applications, and browser are very good, this device just doesn't deliver the power suggested by its considerable heft.

Essentially a bigger, heavier Nokia 9300, the 9500 also has Wi-Fi and a VGA camera added. Its clamshell body opens up to reveal a beautiful 640- by 200-pixel color screen. The keyboard is better than that of the 9300, having slightly domed keys that are more welcoming to fingers, so you're not confined to typing with your thumbs; while you can't quite touch-type on the 9500, you can come close.With the clamshell closed, the 9500 is a huge phone, 5.8 inches long and weighing 7.8 ounces—heavier than other PDA/phone competitors such as the Samsung i730. Despite this, the phone's rectangular shape makes it feel much more like a phone than wider PDAs do, and the external color screen and phone keypad run the familiar Series 40 interface found on lower-end Nokia phones. In "phone-only" mode, you can make calls, access the address book, read (but not answer) e-mail, and read and answer text messages, although for some reason the 9500 doesn't have predictive text capabilities.

As a phone, the 9500 has only average sound quality. We received excellent signal strength on the T-Mobile network, as this is a 900/1800/1900-MHz device (but it's not recommended for Cingular users, despite that carrier's operating in the same bands), but audio transmission sounded a bit muddy. The speakerphone, which turns on when you flip the device open, is actually loud enough for indoor use. A VGA camera on the back of the phone takes overexposed, slightly blurry pictures . Battery life was very good, though, at 11 hours, 5 minutes of talk time and more than a week of standby (though that's sure to drop if you use Wi-Fi).

The 9500's design makes it more of a mini-laptop than a Treo-like e-mail device. It doesn't open flat, so you'll often want to set it down on a table rather than hold it up. With this in mind, it's good that the Communicator comes with a robust set of office software: Microsoft Office–compatible word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications; an Adobe Acrobat viewer; RealPlayer; the Opera browser; an MP3 player; a voice recorder; and PIM applications. The included Microsoft Word reader handles embedded graphics and text formatting, but not tables, thus coming in short of the abilities you'd get with a Windows Mobile 5.0 device or one equipped with DocumentsToGo on the Palm OS platform. The PDF reader handles text well, but has some trouble with complex graphics. Finally, the built-in 80MB of memory and the memory potential of the MMC expansion card slot mean you'll be able to handle plenty of data.

The 9500 is also a "triple-threat" networking device, with Bluetooth, EDGE, and Wi-Fi on board. Bluetooth profiles are pretty basic, with good headset compatibility, file transfer, and syncing with PCs or Macs, but no high-speed Bluetooth 2.0 or stereo audio. The interface for connecting to Wi-Fi networks is very easy to use, and supports both WEP and WPA, though we had trouble connecting to some of our protected networks.

Sadly, the 9500 just doesn't crank out enough horsepower to cover its expansive feature list. We got a decent 700 Kbps downloading a test file using the phone's Wi-Fi connection (the wireless router we were connected to via Wi-Fi had a 1.2-Mbps DSL back-end connection to the Internet), but our testing speeds using the phone's EDGE connectivity on both the T-Mobile and Cingular networks were down in the basement, at 40 to 50 kbps. Video playback is also pretty slow on the phone as well, and although the 9500's delay in opening applications isn't as bad as the 9300's, it's still noticeable. Like the 9300, the 9500 performed poorly on our JBenchmark Java speed tests; we suspect this is because of the combination of a large screen and a slow processor.

Syncing to a PC using Nokia's PC Suite remains a clunky process when compared with how the Palm or Windows Mobile devices do it, and we found some bugs. Most annoyingly, we noted that when entering data in Web forms, the configuration of the keyboard on the 9500 changes so dramatically that we could no longer add punctuation. Another annoyance: You have to remove the battery cover to get at the MMC memory card.

To justify the 9500's size and $799 price tag, it should really be a powerhouse of a phone, and it simply isn't. The Nokia 9300 shares the same features and can do most things the 9500 can, except for Wi-Fi and taking decent photos, and because of the 9500's pathetic performance in those areas, not having those two features isn't much of a loss. Meanwhile, more powerful Windows Mobile devices like the Samsung i730 satisfy a need for speed in a way the 9500 can't match.

Benchmark Tests:
Continuous talk time: 11 hours 5 minutes
JBenchmark 1.1.1: 1765
JBenchmark 2.1.1: 66

Keyboard

2005-10-07T20:34:00.000+07:00

Microsoft Media Center Keyboard

Forget operating systems or office suites; in fact, forget software. One of the things that Microsoft has been spectacularly good at over the last five years has been hardware or, more accurately, keyboards and mice. From the first Natural keyboard, through the first optical IntelliMouse - up until recent times, Microsoft has consistently churned out good quality, ergonomic kit.

High-Class Hardware

It's no surprise, then, that Microsoft has made an effort to make kit based around their current plat(form) du jour, Media Center. We have already looked at the remote control that ships with most Media Center PCs, and proclaimed it worthy of attachment to your nearest USB port.

However, one of the great things about Media Center PCs is that whilst they can do all the cool TV stuff, you can still use them as normal PCs. OK, so you might not want to write your doctoral thesis on a 42" plasma, but you can certainly browse the web or check your email - or even root around for photos to show friends and whatnot. This requires a keyboard, not just a remote control. Undoubtedly, there's no point having Media Center in the living room and using a standard, wired keyboard and mouse - that just looks ugly. So, Microsoft has come up with this, which aims to be the only Media Center control device you need.

The Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition, to give it its full moniker, is a small keyboard with media buttons on either side and a pointing device built in. The mouse pointer is a small 'nipple', not unlike those seen on IBM Thinkpads. The functions of the Media Center remote are replicated on the left and right of the keyboard, with the iconic Start button and the other sundry shortcuts. Across the top of the keyboard are shortcuts to sections in the software like My Music or My Photos.

In terms of the keys, they are a cross between low-profile laptop keys and full-size ones. The layout is pretty spacious, but eschews a number pad in favour of additional function buttons. The arrow keys are a little cramped, and things are a little tighter than your average desktop keyboard, but the typing experience is a good one, overall.

There's no software included in the box: to install the keyboard, you'll need to get a Windows Update from the web. I don't know why Microsoft can't include a CD with this on in the box - perhaps because it wants people to go through the rigmarole of Windows Genuine Advantage? This restricts downloads to verified non-pirated installations of Windows - something that already applies to stuff like DirectX 9.0c downloads.

Backlighting

Let's take look at those buttons then. They are mounted on sections that are raised on either side of the keys. This puts them squarely over your legs if you're sitting down. However, if you're holding the keyboard, all the buttons are within a thumb's distance, meaning you can happily operate it without having to rest it on a surface. The backlight is a cool orange, which looks pretty snazzy in the dark. However, we can't help but wonder if it should have been green or blue, carrying on the Media Center colour scheme?

There is not a lot to say about the tactile quality of the buttons - they are pretty hardy rather than weak little bits of plastic, and they're firmly attached. The only complaint is that there is no button to quick launch Internet Explorer, which is surely one of the main uses this keyboard will be put to.

Processor

2005-10-06T16:44:00.000+07:00

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+

The talk of doubling up has been going around for a while now. We’ve already seen NVIDIA pair up two video cards to gain more performance with SLI, and there are rumours that ATI’s multiple video card solution, MVP, will be launched at Computex at the start of next month. We will have to wait and see whether the rumours hold true, but everything is starting to double up in the quest for a smoother computing experience.

Intel’s dual core Pentium D was released over a month ago, but we are still awaiting products to get to retail. Intel seems to have fallen by the wayside with a paper launch that shows no sign of any products appearing on the virtual shelves of your favourite etailer any time soon. Having said that, today AMD are launching the Athlon 64 X2 processor on paper, as AMD have told us that the X2 processors will be available in June. So, all in all, the push towards dual core CPU’s is not quite up to speed just yet.

As soon as both solutions are available, we will let you know. Until then, let's get on with some dual core silky smooth goodness.

Both Intel and AMD have based a lot of the hype of dual core around the improved multi-tasking performance and general smoothness of day-to-day usage in the desktop environment. After using a dual core processor for the first time this weekend, it really does make a difference to general use. No longer do you need to worry about whether you can watch a DVD while backing up your latest MP3’s to CD – I’ve used a HyperThreaded Pentium 4 for a while now and everyone has always mentioned how smooth things were with a second logical processor. I agree.

However, the addition of a second physical processor seems to make a lot more difference than I thought it would. We will come to look at how well it performs in due course, but it is hard to quantify just how smooth everything feels when you have a second core under the hood.

The Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor has 1MB L2 cache per core, meaning that there's a total of 2MB of L2 cache on the CPU. Whilst the cache is discrete, the cores use the same memory controller and HyperTransport link to the rest of the system, which is handled by the internal 'crossbar switch'.

The system request interface makes use of something that AMD term as a 'crossbar switch'. We've seen the introduction of a 'fragment crossbar' in to NVIDIA's NV4x GPU's, and AMD's crossbar switch operates in a similar way. It splits down and redirects the instructions to their destination in an efficient manner, allowing for greater efficiency in a multi-tasking environment. In many ways, the dual core Athlon 64 X2 could be compared to a simple SMP system. We say this because a typical SMP system would have two cores, each with an independent L2 cache, while they would share the same memory controller (typically located in the northbridge).

MP3 Players

2005-10-06T15:23:00.000+07:00

New Dell DJ 30

The new Dell Digital Jukebox (DJ) is available in two models that promise the ease of use and value of the original DJ with enhanced form factor and capacity options. Now offered in 20GB and 30GB capacities, the new DJ weighs in at a spry 6.5 ounces and is 25% smaller than the original DJ. Taking your entire music portfolio with you has never been easier.

An audiophile's dream come true, the DJ-30 offers massive capacity enabling you to carry up to 15,000 songs with you at any given time. If you don't have that many tunes, the storage space can also be used to back up critical data from your PC. With up to 12 hours of battery life, the new DJ keeps you entertained for the longest of journeys.

30GB of storage for up to 15,000 songs
Slim design measuring 4.0 x 2.5 x .74 inches and weighing only 6.8 ounces
Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery with up to 12 hours of battery life
Easy to read 1.92 inch LCD with brilliant blue back light
Easy and affordable downloads via the Dell Music Store powered by MusicMatch

Compatible with Napster to Go. Transfer all the music you want to your Dell DJ^TM 30 without paying 99¢ per track. It is necessary to maintain a Napster to Go subscription to continue to access the subscription tracks on your DJ. Music must be purchased (.99 cents per song, albums starting at $6.95) in order to burn to a CD.

Communication

2005-10-04T21:52:00.000+07:00

Satellite Radio: From Orbit to Pocket

Satellite radio is great in your car and in your home, but it's even better in your pocket. Think of it: Sports scores, stock tickers, and commercial-free music that you can take anywhere.

Transistor radios ushered in the portable music era a half century ago, but satellite radio has a few tethers that have kept it bound to one place and are just now being broken. The first is the need for an antenna to pick up the signal. In-dash satellite radio receivers like the Delphi RoadyTX and Sirius Sportster come with easily-installed antennae, as do home-docking solutions. Portable satellite radio receivers have to rely on internal antennae (assuming you don't want to wear a tinfoil helmet), which can greatly reduce reception indoors.

The other issue is battery life. It takes a lot more juice to power a satellite radio receiver than to power an iPod that just plays music. Don't expect more than 5 hours of playback from these devices.

Because of the need for an antenna and lots of power, portable satellite radio receivers can't compete on size with MP3 players—they're barely pocketable at all. If you're looking for a slim device to slip in your pocket, devices like the Sirius S50 or the Samsung neXus might work. Bear in mind, though, that these players only play prerecorded content unless they're in their docks—they're not actual portable receivers.

If you've got big enough pockets, though—and we mean that literally—the XM2go receivers from Tao, Pioneer, and Delphi will serve you well. Interestingly, they're all the same on the inside—the only differentiator is the shape and controls. Even the price is the same.

They also share the same feature set, which includes TuneSelect to let you know when your favorite tracks or artists are on the air. There's also enough on-board storage to record up to 5 hours of content, which is handy for those situations where you don't get stellar reception. And all of the players come bundled with more accessories than you'll know what to do with.

MP3 Players

2005-10-03T18:42:00.000+07:00

Apple iPod nano

Once again, Apple has come up with a design that turns heads. Enter the iPod nano. But this was a relatively easy one for the designers, if not the engineers: They took the full-size iPod and made it really, really slim. We measured it at just 80 cents thick—that's 3 quarters and a nickel, or 0.27 inches for you traditionalists—by 5 dimes long (3.5 inches) by 2 pennies wide (1.6 inches). According to Apple, that's 62 percent smaller than the now-discontinued iPod mini the nano is replacing. It weighs just 1.5 ounces, and it really does fit in the smaller front pocket of your blue jeans without the slightest bulge. A few things changed—some compromises in the name of miniaturization and some actual improvements—but the end result is a spectacular product. Sure, it doesn't have an FM tuner or voice recording, but it does have an unsurpassed interface, a color screen, excellent sound quality, and an undeniable cool factor. Plus, it's flash-based, so you don't have to worry about skipping or dead hard drives.

We received the black model for testing, but we were slightly disappointed to find that the included stock Apple earbuds have retained their distinctive "mug-me" white. A nice touch is that the icon that showed up on our desktop was black. The iPod nano doesn't support syncing via FireWire; instead, a message comes up telling you to please use the included USB cable. It still charges via FireWire, though. Upon first connection, our 4GB model had 3.7GB available for storage, with the remaining space being used for system files. It took us only 1 minute 6 seconds to transfer 512MB of MP3 files via USB 2.0.

One of the biggest additions for Microsoft Windows users is that the iPod nano syncs with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express contacts and calendars (in addition to those from iCal, of course). We had absolutely no trouble doing so, and contacts are sortable by first or last name. Games include the same old Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute, and Solitaire. The stopwatch, however, is a very cool new feature, especially considering that the nano is ultratiny and flash-based—ideal for working out. It can record lap times as well, and then saves them along with a date and time stamp. When you go back and view your recorded times, it also shows you your shortest, longest, and average lap in addition to your total time and individual lap times. The iPod nano also boasts a world clock which displays the time in analog or digital. Another handy feature is being able to adjust the audiobook reading speed.

Apple added a security measure called Screen Lock, which is a graphical combination lock for which you create a 4-digit code. The click wheel provides just the right amount of sensitivity so you don't scroll through the numbers too fast. After you set the lock, you can still use the Play/Pause button but nothing else. Your code pops up on the screen each time you choose Turn Screen Lock On from the menu as a reminder; this is handy but doesn't provide particularly robust security.

Subjective sound quality is nearly identical to that of the final-generation iPod mini, which is to say, excellent. Music is clear, with very solid bass and crisp highs. The stock Apple earbuds perform adequately, though the player can definitely handle high-end headphones with aplomb (the plug of our Etymotic ER4P canalphones, however, is actually slightly wider than the player itself!). There are 22 preset listening modes, so we think most users won't miss a customizable equalizer. The bass booster provides enough extra depth for thundering bass such as that found in some electronic music, though we heard significant harmonic distortion on the low end that noticeably altered the music. But the sound is plenty good enough with the EQ off.

On our formal tests, the iPod nano actually outperformed the 6GB iPod mini, with a slightly cleaner signal and better response in the lowest octave than its predecessor. Our square-wave test also showed that the output stage is significantly stronger than the mini's when loaded with Apple's stock earbuds but not as strong as that of the iPod shuffle, which has a different type of output. Apple rates the battery life at 14 hours of continuous audio playback, and it can fast-charge to 80 percent in 1.5 hours.

Photos sync easily and quickly via iTunes; just select the iPod tab in Preferences, and then choose Photos. The 176-by-132-pixel 1.5-inch screen is about 0.2 inches smaller than the iPod mini's, but it gains color; photos look sharp and vivid, though we're still wishing for pan and zoom capabilities. Format support is still admirably broad, encompassing JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG. It can do slide shows with music, customizable slide times, and several different transitions.

Naturally, there are already a few accessories for the nano, including lanyard headphones (yes, it's wearable, via the headphone jack on the bottom of the device), a nano Dock, nano armbands, and nano Tubes (silicone cases). The cases are a good idea, as we've already covered our shiny new nano in fingerprints. And we're sure third parties will begin shipping other add-ons soon. Thankfully, the nano retains other iPod models' standard 30-pin dock connector, so it'll work with many existing accessories. It also ships with a plastic insert so you can use the nano with your existing iPod docks. Apple did not include any voice-recording features, however, so you won't be able to plug in third-party microphones. Nor will you be able to use add-ons that use the other iPods' 4-pin remote control connector, which is missing on the nano. (That means no remote, either.)

At $199 for the 2GB version and $249 for the 4GB version (both available in black or white), we feel that Apple has made an incredibly satisfying product. We were so impressed that we're awarding it our Editors' Choice award. Sure you can get a 20GB full-size iPod for $299, but the benefits of an extremely small size and no moving internal parts easily justify the price

Desktops

2005-10-03T17:56:00.000+07:00

Cheap PC

With late-summer focus on back to school preparations, there's no better time to find a bargain on a PC. We gathered five desktops—all less than a $1,000 including monitor—that are ideal for the back to school bunch. However, that's not to say that any one of these desktops wouldn't fit comfortably in your home, too. Everyone—not just students—should take advantage of back to school savings when it comes to computers.

Of the five desktops we looked at, two, the eMachines T6520 and the HP Pavilion a1120n, have the Media Center operating system. This is cool because with it you get a 10-foot interface and a remote control, so you can manage your music or photos from across the room. What these low-cost Media Centers don't come with are TV tuners. TV tuners add on to the system's price, and some manufacturers are not convinced that people want to watch TV on their computers—yet. (If you do want a built-in TV tuner, check out the Sony VAIO VGC-RA830G ($1,799 without monitor).

Some systems give you more than others: the T6520 as well as the HP Compaq Presario SR1550NX include 200GB of hard drive space. Other systems, like the Dell Dimension 5100, include a 160GB, but it also packs in a dual-layer DVD writer. And some, like the two HP systems mentioned previously, come with slightly bigger displays (17 inches as opposed to 15 inches).

When choosing a value desktop, whether for back to school or the home, you should think about what's most important to you, and shop accordingly. If it's Media Center OS, the T6520 and a1120n are good choices; if you just want a general-purpose system for Web browsing and light photo and music managing, than the Gateway 5310 might be more your speed. So, whether you're embarking on a new school year, or just think its time for a new home PC, one of these five systems is sure save you money and meet your needs.

Check out all five of these value PCs in an easily scannable comparison table. Don't miss our Essential Back to School Buying Guide. It's filled with everything you need from the top 5 gadgets you never knew you needed to sturdy backpacks and bags for all your gear. We also list the top ten questions to ask campus IT and give you the low down on Microsoft Student.

Printers

2005-10-01T22:42:00.000+07:00

HP Photosmart 385

The ink jet–based HP Photosmart 385 GoGo Photo Printer is a later, greater version of the HP Photosmart 375 Compact Photo Printer, which HP introduced last year. It offers all the same features that we liked in the 375: easy portability, with the same 4.5- by 8.7- by 4.6-inch (HWD) size and 2.6-pound weight; the ability to print from PictBridge cameras or memory cards; a 2.5-inch LCD to preview photos; and a kiosk-style menu to let you crop, edit, print multiple photos per page, and more. We just wish the resulting photo print wasn't slightly adhesive or gummy to the touch

As with the 375, an 8-ounce, rechargeable battery pack option lets you print up to 75 photos on a single charge when there's no power outlet handy. You can add a Bluetooth adapter for $49.99. There are one or two small additions to the 385 as well, most notably a newfound ability to print not just on 4- by 6-inch photo paper but also on 4- by 8-inch photo cards and 4- by 12-inch panoramic paper, with borderless printing for all three sizes.

More important, the 385 offers better-looking output than the 375, earning a higher photo-quality score. Its rating at the high end of very good means that most of the photos are true photo quality, with few or no flaws. Unlike the 375, the only issue worth mentioning was minor aliasing, with bicycle spokes in one photo looking a little like ragged hand-drawn lines rather than solid metal. This problem will show up in only a small percentage of photos, however. Even better, it's not as pronounced as with the 375, so even in those few photos where the problem shows up, you have to look closely to see it.

One problem the 385 shares with the 375 is that the output isn't water- or smudge-proof. This is not the case with almost every other dedicated 4- by 6-inch photo printer, including the ink jet–based Epson PictureMate and Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition. The 385's photos come out tacky enough that when we picked one up after printing, we left a clearly visible thumbprint, without help from the folks at CSI. Even after several days of drying time, sweaty hands can smudge the image, and a drop of water will leave a water stain. That means you have to be more careful with photos from the 385 than with photos printed with most of the competition.

Print speed is on the slow side, but within the typical range for 4- by 6-inch dedicated printers, and a little slower than for the 375. We timed it at 1 minute 46 seconds to 1:55 for printing from a computer, 1:53 to 2:18 for printing from a Canon PowerShot S60 camera, and 1:49 to 2:11 for printing from a CompactFlash memory card. That's somewhat faster than the Epson PictureMate, but slower than the Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition.

One final touch in the 385's favor is that HP claims a cost per print as low as 24 cents each, based on a $47.99 (direct) price for packages with enough ink and paper for 200 photos. The 50-sheet packs, at $19.99, work out to 40 cents per photo, so it obviously pays to buy the larger, economy size.

With the much improved image quality for the Photosmart 385, our one reservation about the printer is the ease of ruining a print with a drop of water or a sweaty hand. But, to borrow from NASA's vocabulary, in all other ways, the Photosmart 385 GoGo earns a clear and definitive "Go."

Wireless Networking

2005-10-01T21:47:00.000+07:00

Junxion Box JB-110b

It's easy for mobile professionals to get hooked on using wireless hot spots, but what if a group of people need Internet access to collaborate in an area where there's not a public hot spot or convenient Internet access? The Junxion Box JB-110b from Junxion is one answer.

Housed in a bright-green steel box measuring 10.3 by 6.3 by 1.1 inches (HWD), the Junxion Box is a router that can use either a PC Card cellular modem or Ethernet to connect to the Internet. Client PCs can connect to the device via an 802.11b/g wireless connection or by using the single Ethernet LAN port (you could add a switch to this port and share with more PCs). The main thing you need in addition to the Junxion Box is a cellular modem card with a data-service plan.

Setup and installation couldn't be simpler. Just plug your cellular modem card into the PC Card slot, power up the unit, and connect to the Web-based administrator page. You can connect wirelessly or with the supplied Ethernet crossover cable. From the WAN page, you select the brand and model number of your cellular modem from a drop-down box and click Apply. Within a minute or two, the Junxion Box reconfigures itself and connects to your cellular carrier's data service. A single status LED indicates whether you have an Internet connection.

The Junxion Box currently supports 15 modems that work with four carriers' data networks: one from Alltel, four from Cingular/AT&T Wireless, four from Sprint, and six from Verizon Wireless. A list of supported modems is available on Junxion's Web site. One of the nice advantages of the Junxion Box is that all the modem drivers are built into the box, so no client-side software is needed. Because client PCs will usually connect to the Junxion Box via their built-in Wi-Fi, the limited cellular modem support found with some Mac OS X and Linux PCs should not be a factor. Although the Junxion box gives you the technical capability to share your cellular-based Internet connection, you may be violating the terms of service you agreed to with your carrier.

We found the Web-based management interface to be quite simple. The status page shows the public addresses of your WAN (wide area network) connection, signal-strength indicators, the IP and MAC addresses of connected clients, length of time in use, and the total traffic that's been carried on the WAN connection.

Compared with most 802.11 consumer wireless routers on the market, the feature set found in the Junxion Box router could best be described as "bare bones." This is a simple network address translation (NAT) router that lacks a stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall. You are given only two choices for the router's LAN address: 192.168.2.1 and 10.0.0.1. It lacks a MAC address access-control list to control wireless network access. From a security standpoint, the Junxion Box supports only 64/128 bit WEP, does not support WPA, and cannot block SSID broadcast. But most people who have routers that include all those features don't bother to configure them, and the lack of features makes the box quite simple to configure. If you need the more advanced router features, you could purchase the Junxion Box model JB-110e (the e is for Ethernet) without Wi-Fi capabilities for $599, then connect its LAN port to the WAN port of the wireless router of your choice.

The model JB-110b Junxion Box we reviewed uses an 802.11b radio. Although 802.11b is significantly slower than 802.11g, for this device the slower speed is irrelevant for Web browsing, because even the fastest cellular networks top out at around 2 Mbps. Notebooks equipped with the faster, more modern 802.11g technology will not have a problem connecting, because it is backward-compatible with 802.11b.

Since the Junxion Box is often used in nontraditional settings such as public events and outdoor settings, we decided to test it in an outdoor environment. Its 200-milliwatt radio provided a strong signal at significant distances. In our testing, we took the Junxion Box to our community pool, got permission to set it up inside the clubhouse, and then surveyed the entire pool area with an IBM ThinkPad T42. Even at distances of 240 feet, the signal strength never dropped below 95 percent, and the data rate never dropped below 11 Mbps.

The Junxion Box is a new product in a nascent market that Junxion company officials call "transportable wireless WAN routers." If you can live with the router and security limitations, and can afford the price, the Junxion Box is an expedient means of providing shared Internet access where traditional broadband access is unavailable.

Laptops & Notebooks

2005-10-01T20:07:00.000+07:00

Sony Vaio VGN-TX670P

Sony is drawing oohs and aahs once again with its coolest ultraportable yet, the Sony VAIO VGN-TX670P. Like its predecessor, the VAOD VGN-T350P, this laptop integrates Cingular's EDGE 3G WAN radio. The TX670P also includes some very cool improvements, is even slimmer than the T350P, and integrates something all ultraportables should have—a built-in DVD burner.

At 2.7 pounds, the TX670P is lighter than the T350P (3.1 pounds), which can be attributed to Sony's decision to envelope the system in carbon-fiber alloy, which is stronger yet lighter than the magnesium-alloy cases the company typically uses. It weighs the same as the Toshiba Portege R200 and is as impressively sleek; however, the TX670P has an internal dual-layer DVD±RW drive and 1GB of memory—not to mention better battery life. For these reasons and more (keep reading!), we're awarding the TX670P an Editors' Choice.

The ultraportable's XBrite widescreen is a unique 11.1 inches, which is a little bigger than the one found on the T350P (10.7 inches) though not as large as the R200's (12.1 inches). It has an unusual 1,366-by-768 resolution, still terrific for taking in flicks. Sony also made the screen much thinner—not that it was ever noticeably thick—by moving the LCD's system board and the WAN antenna to the base of the unit.

The TX670P includes an instant audiovisual feature. With the press of the A/V mode button (under the screen), you can play your CD/DVDs and instantly browse photos from your memory cards without booting into the OS. It conserves battery life and offers a quicker way to access all your multimedia files.

The keyboard is still a little small, at only 90 percent; the R200's is full size. Playback buttons (Play/Pause, Stop, Rew, Fwd, and Eject) are located next to the A/V mode button. The volume buttons are on the front panel, something we are always happy to see. The speakers, located above the keyboard, have decent sound quality despite their small size. The 3G WAN radio is no longer anchored flush to the side of the screen. Instead, it's at the base of the screen, on the side. The antenna, which is made of rubber, can be removed easily and adjusted to gain a better signal without you having to fiddle with the display.

Like the T350P, the TX670P uses Cingular's EDGE technology. EDGE is a cellular network with theoretical speeds of up to 236 Kbps and typical speeds in the 100- to 160-Kbps range. That's not quite broadband speed, as you can find with EV-DO (the clear leader among 3G high-speed wireless options), but certainly quicker than dial-up. The benefit of EDGE is in its pervasiveness nationwide. Whereas you once needed to be within about a 160-foot radius of a wireless access point, you can now wander, say, through Manhattan and remain connected.

The Cingular Connection Manager, which manages all of your laptop's wireless connections, is intuitive and very easy to use. It manages not only your EDGE connection but the built-in Bluetooth and Intel Pro 802.11g wireless as well. The utility doesn't automatically switch your wireless connections; users can do this manually. In addition, the notebook has an on/off switch that disables all of your wireless radios. Activating EDGE will cost $79 per month for the subscription service, with a 30-day trial period. It's pricey—but worth the investment if staying connected is a top priority.

The TX670P comes with a built-in DVD burner, a rare find on such a thin and lightweight machine. The optical drive is a dual-layer DVD±RW drive, capable of burning dual-layer DVDs that hold 8.5GB of data. The TX670P also has an extra slot for SD cards, a first for Sony, in addition to the MS and MS Pro card reader. Two USB ports, a FireWire port, and a PC Card slot are also available.

The TX670P's battery life, 5 hours 4 minutes according to the MobileMark 2005 tests, is not as long as the T350P's 6:20, but it surpasses the R200's. For those who rely heavily on their notebook batteries, the MPC Transport U1000 offers the best overall battery life (7:02 with its extended battery), but it's nowhere as sleek. The TX670P's SYSMark 2004 SE 2004 scores were just average, even with its 1GB of system memory.

Integrated 3G WAN technology is catching on, and why not? Who doesn't want to be able to go wireless everywhere? The Sony VAIO VGN-TX670P is an excellent laptop in terms of performance, design, and innovation. Equipped with EDGE it's revolutionary, although if it were equipped with the faster EV-DO network, this ultraportable would be just about perfect.

Benchmark Tests:

Graphics Card

2005-10-01T15:42:00.000+07:00

PNY Verto GeForce 7800 GTX

The new GeForce 7800 GTX by nVidia is a monster of a graphics card with a monster of a price tag. Though the GeForce 7800 GTX cards originally sold for as much as $600, prices have fallen to a more respectable, but still stiff, $500. PNY was one of the first to offer these cards, and their Verto GeForce 7800 GTX is a fine example of the new graphics architecture.

For the most part, the 7800 GTX is just like nVidia's previous best card, the GeForce 6800 Ultra. The major engineering changes are designed more around making it faster than about adding new features. For instance, the 6800 had 16 pixel pipelines; the 7800 GTX has 24. Similarly, the 6800 had six vertex pipelines, whereas the 7800 has eight. This, along with some heavy tweaking and re-engineering of the internal structure of these pipelines, has resulted in some very significant speed boosts over an already blazingly fast graphics card. On the whole, the 7800 GTX is about 50 percent faster than a GeForce 6800 Ultra, and nVidia promises that the performance difference will be greater on more shader-intensive future games. The only really noticeable new feature is an antialiasing mode that helps smooth out rough parts in transparent textures.

PNY sticks to nVidia's reference design—there are cards out there that offer funky cooling solutions and come overclocked, typically at a price premium, but this isn't one of them. You could consider it a "stock" GeForce 7800 GTX, though that certainly isn't a bad thing. nVidia has made substantial improvements in power draw and cooling, resulting in a bigger chip (302 million transistors!) from the same manufacturing process (0.11 micron) that somehow draws 10 watts less power, uses a single-slot cooling solution, and runs much more quietly.

The GeForce 7800 GTX is currently the fastest card on the market by far, unless you have the money to buy two of them and run them in the dual-card SLI mode. PNY's version is just as fast as all the other versions of it, save for more expensive overclocked models. The included video dongle gives you component, S-video, and composite output, as well as S-video and composite input, so you can display and record video from a VCR or camcorder. On the back of the card, you'll find the connection for this dongle and two DVI outputs. For those with a VGA monitor, don't worry; the card comes with a pair of DVI-to-VGA adaptors. Unfortunately, PNY doesn't include any bundled games or utility software.

Benchmark Test Results: